English Dub Review: Dragon Ball Daima “Third Eye”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Goku and friends storm the First Demon World and face the brunt Gomah’s army, while Gomah has Degasu go after the legendary Third Eye found on Hybis’ belt.

OUR TAKE

As we kick off the final act of this series, one could argue that we are hitting the ground running and can safely carry this momentum into the last quarter. I would agree with that assessment…to an extent. Just in case you only come to these reviews for the number rating, well…that’s pretty rude because I work pretty hard on these. But also, usually when I give something a 7, it’s because I view the episode as a solidly entertaining but unexceptional piece of media. And that most definitely applies to this specific episode, but this case is a bit different. It has some rather disappointing bits, like the fact that this battle being very unconvincing in its tension, but also a not insignificant number of above average bits, such as the flashback explaining the Third Eye as well as the bits with Hybis. Dragon Ball Daima is an incredibly uneven show at the end of the day, about as much as the other Dragon Ball series, but because it’s the shortest by far at only twenty episodes, the discrepancy between the less good bits and the very good bits is just that much more noticeable, which is, ultimately, a shame.

But like it or not, we are now at the fourth quarter, where everything that has been set up is meant to pay off. Our heroes have made it to the villain’s lair, will face his greatest defenses, use their most powerful forms and techniques to combat those defenses, and be changed by the experience…except not really because they can’t be, as this series takes place before the end of the manga and before even the events of Battle of Gods, so nothing all that significant can happen in this series since it wasn’t mentioned there. So, the main priority with this then is to simply finish the series on a high and make it feel like a worthwhile experience, even if it doesn’t or can’t reach the highs that most imagine and remember with Dragon Ball. So, now that we’re down to the final five episodes, what should we expect going forward? Well, the animators continue to come out in full force, which is great, and the trademark Toriyama humor is most definitely present, but the writing has felt lacking, which sadly I don’t think is going to improve BUT won’t get worse, so there’s that at least. So, let’s enjoy this Dragon Ball to the end, just like we did with the rest.